CBASE Test

The CBASE test – College Basic Academic Subjects Examination – is a comprehensive and challenging assessment for men and women looking to enter teacher education programs. The exam was designed to assess general knowledge. Its developers wanted a person to be able to pass the exam using the knowledge obtained during general studies in the first two years of college.

The CBASE test is divided into four content categories: English (42 questions); mathematics (56 questions); science (41 questions); and social studies (42 questions). The English section contains questions about reading, literature, and writing. The mathematics portion addresses general mathematics, algebra, and geometry. Science covers laboratory use, fieldwork, and fundamental concepts. The social studies section addresses history and the social sciences.

The intention of the CBASE exam is to measure three types of reasoning: interpretive, strategic, and adaptive. The CBASE test takes four hours to complete and requires a minimum passing score of 235 for each component. To obtain this, the raw score, which is based on the number of questions answered correctly, is placed on a scale of 100 to 300 according to an algorithm that takes into account the relative difficulty of the exam version.

CBASE Study Guide

Start learning how to be successful on your CBASE exam. Our CBASE study guide is guaranteed to help you get the results you deserve on your CBASE test. Some test takers prefer to study using flashcards and so we have created the best CBASE flashcards that cover everything you need to know for the CBASE exam. Note that using multiple study aids will help you maximize the benefit from your study time.

CBASE Test Practice Test

English Section

Mary Ainsworth described three major categories of infant attachment: secure, anxious/avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent. After years of additional research by many investigators, Mary Main and Judith Solomon in 1986 identified a fourth pattern: anxious/disorganized/disoriented.
These four major patterns of attachment describe unique sets of behavior:

Secure: Securely attached babies are able to use the attachment figure as an effective secure base from which to explore the world. When such moderately stressful events as brief (3-minute) separations in an unfamiliar environment occur, these securely attached babies approach or signal to the attachment figure at reunion and achieve a degree of proximity or contact which suffices to terminate attachment behavior. They accomplish this with little or no open or masked anger, and soon return to exploration or play.

Avoidant: Babies with avoidant attachments are covertly anxious about the attachment figure’s responsiveness and have developed a defensive strategy for managing their anxiety. Upon the attachment figure’s return after the same moderately stressful events, these avoidant babies show mild version of the “detachment” behavior which characterizes many infants after separations of two or three weeks; that is, they fail to greet the mother, ignore her overtures and act as if she is of little importance.

Ambivalent: In babies with anxious/ambivalent attachments, both anxiety and mixed feelings about the attachment figure are readily observable. At reunion after brief separations in an unfamiliar environment, they mingle openly angry behavior with their attachment behavior.

Disorganized/Disoriented: Babies classified in this group appear to have no consistent strategy for managing separation from and reunion with the attachment figure. Some appear to be clinically depressed; some demonstrate mixtures of avoidant behavior, openly angry behavior and attachment behavior. Others show odd, often uncomfortable and disturbing behaviors. These infant are often seen in studies of high-risk samples of severely maltreated, very disturbed or depressed babies, but also appear in normal middle-class samples. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

3. The major advantage of sexual reproduction over asexual forms is that

a. it requires two individuals.
b. it promotes diversity.
c. it produces more offspring.
d. it involves chromosomes.

Questions 4 and 5 are based on the following text:

Isotopes

The nucleus of an atom contains both protons and neutrons. Protons have a single positive electric charge, while neutrons have a charge of zero. The number of protons that a nucleus contains, called the atomic number and abbreviated as Z, determines the identity of an atom of matter. For example, hydrogen contains a single proton (Z =1), whereas helium contains two (Z = 2). Atoms of a single element may differ in terms of the number of neutrons in their atomic nuclei, however. The total number of protons and neutrons in an atom is referred to as the atomic mass, or M. Helium typically has an atomic mass equal to 4, but there is another helium isotope for which M = 3. This form of helium has the same number of protons, but only one neutron.

In an atomic fusion reaction, nuclei collide with one another with enough force to break them apart. The resulting nuclei may have a lower atomic mass than the reactants, with the difference being released as energy. Electric charge, however, is always conserved.

4. Two atoms of helium-3 (atomic mass = 3) collide in a fusion reaction to produce a single atom of helium-4 (atomic mass = 4). What might be another product of this reaction?

a. A neutron
b. A proton
c. Two electrons
d. Two protons

5. Hydrogen atoms usually contain a single neutron. Deuterium and tritium are isotopes of hydrogen containing two or three neutrons, respectively. How many electrons orbit the tritium nucleus if the atom is electrically neutral?

a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3

Mathematics

6. The following table shows the distance from a point to a moving car at various times.

d

Distance

50

70

110

t

Time

2

3

5

If the speed of the car is constant, which of the following equations describes the distance from the point to the car?

a. d = 25 t
b. d = 35 t
c. d = 55 t
d. d = 20 t +10

7. There are n musicians in a marching band. All play either a drum or a brass instrument. If p represents the fraction of musicians playing drums, how many play a brass instrument?

a.pn – 1
b. p(n – 1)
c. (p – 1)n
d. (1 – p)n

Social Studies Section8. Which economic/political system has the following characteristics:

CBASE Answers

English Section1. C: Since this passage is about the characteristics of human behavior, it can be inferred that Mary Ainsworth is a psychologist. A botanist studies plants. A biologist studies plant and animal life. An entomologist studies insects.

2. B: This passage describes four major patterns of infant attachment.

Science Section3. B: Sexual reproduction allows the genetic information from two parents to mix. Recombination events between the two parental copies of individual genes may occur, creating new genes. The production of new genes and of new gene combinations leads to an increase in diversity within the population, which is a great advantage in terms of adapting to changes in the environment.

4. D: The charge must be conserved in the reaction. Since the reactants, two helium atoms, each have two protons, they will have a total electric charge of +4. The reaction product, helium-4, also has two protons, and therefore has a total charge of +2. Two positive charges are lacking to balance the reaction. Of the choices given, only D, with two protons, has a charge of +2.

5. B: Since tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, the nucleus contains a single proton, giving it a charge of +1. The extra neutrons do not contribute to the charge. Electrons have a charge of -1. In order to neutralize the single positive charge of the nuclear proton, a single orbiting electron is required.

Mathematics Section6. D: Inspection of the data shows that the distance traveled by the car during any 1-unit interval (velocity) is 20 units. However, the first data point shows that the car is 50 units from the point of origin at time 2, so it had a 10-unit head start before time measurement began. Answers A-C only fit the data at single points. They do not fit the whole set.

7. D: The fraction of those playing drums plus the fraction of those playing a brass instrument must total 1. The number that play drums is therefore pn, and the number playing brass must be (1-p)n.

9. D: A dictator is a leader with absolute power without respect to constitutional limitations. This would not be found in a democracy. Democracy is rule by the people; government by the consent of the governed.